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“Sapiens: A Brief History of Human Kind” by Yuval Noah Harari (2011)

“The Happiness Hypothesis” by Jonathan Haidt (2006)

These two books are about why we are the way we are. They both explore human evolution, evolutionary psychology, history, religion, science, and politics. They are both clearly written and easy to read. I highly recommend these two books to everyone.

“I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life” by Ed Yong (2016) This book helped turn my spark of interest in the microbiome into a flame and the story-telling is phenomenal; it is so easy and fun to read. I highly recommend it to anyone. I love how Mr. Yong tells the stories with so many funny and quirky anecdotes.

“The Ancestor’s Tale” by Richard Dawkins and Yan Wong (2004) I read this book about two years ago while I was taking my graduate Evolution course and preparing for my qualifying exams. I think it improved my general intuition about evolutionary processes and timescales. The reader travels back in time, as though walking down a phylogeny from one tip (humans) to the root of all life, meeting all of our ancestors at the nodes along the way.

“Never Out of Season: How Having the Food We Want When We Want It Threatens Our Food Supply and Our Future” by Rob Dunn (2017) I am a huge fan of the science of domestication and human’s evolutionary history with food. This book tells incredible stories about our food system and why it is so important for us to conserve genetic variation in our crops (and how we can be better at it). Dr. Dunn has this amazing ability to dig out all the weird and overlooked, yet important details of scientific endeavors.

“She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity” by Carl Zimmer (2018)

“The Gene: An Intimate History” by Siddhartha Mukherjee (2016)

“How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychadelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addictiion, Depression, and Transcendence” by Michael Pollan (2018) This is an absolutely fascinating book. We take a tour through the complicated history of psychadelics in the US starting around the 1950s, stories of the author’s personal experiences, the recent neuroscience research about how psychadelics change our brains, and the potential applications for psychotherapy. The chapters about neuroscience and neural networks was fascinating and have changed how I view my own brain, mental health, and sense of self.

“The Wildlife of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites, and Partners That Shape Who We Are Today” by Rob Dunn (2011)

“The Homing Instinct: Meaning and Mystery in Animal Migration” by Bernd Heinrich (2014) This is a beautiful and fascinating book. Dr. Heinrich lived in the woods as a boy during World War II and observes animals and plants as kin, which he conveys through his writings and illustrations. This book is about the benefits and costs of straying away from home, from what is known and comfortable. He explores how different animals have adapted to find this balance. I didn’t anticipate how relevant this book would be for me, personally, as I navigated my own migration. I read this book during my year between undergrad and grad school. It gave me important perspective as I was making the decision to move to a new place and build a new home for myself. This book reminded me that I, like many animals, have a deep biological connection to my place of birth and to my family. Even if you aren’t going through your own personal migration, I still recommend this book!

“Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness” by Susannah Cahalan (2012) This is a memoir by a journalist who experiences a rare brain disorder. The story is told like a mystery from the first-person perspective. She exhibits strange behaviors and other symptoms and no one can figure out what is wrong with her. Finally, brilliant doctors start to put all the pieces together and help the author get better and go back to living her normal life and eventually write a book about her experience. This story was gripping, fascinating, and we learn along with the author tons of interesting science about the brain and what can go wrong with it.

“The Genius of Birds” by Jennifer Ackerman (2015) I have never been a bird person, and I still don’t think I am, but I now respect birds as some of the most creative and intelligent creatures in the world. Birds are amazing!!

“Never Home Alone: From Microbes to Millipedes, Camel Crickets, and Honeybees, The Natural History of Where We Live” by Rob Dunn (2018) I love books that show us what is extraordinary about our ordinary lives. This theme is clearly exemplified in this book as we take a tour of the biodiversity inside our homes. We learn that if we actually took the time to identify the things that live under our own roof, we would be very surprised as to who they are, how they got there, and what they can teach us.

“The Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution” by John Thompson (2005)

“The Man Who Touched His Own Heart: True Tales of Science, Surgery, and Mystery” by Rob Dunn (2015)

“Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees” by Thor Hanson (2018) Bees, flowers, humans, food, evolution - all my favorite topics in a light and charming read. I’ve realized that most people who take a minute to learn a little bit about bees, immediately have dozens of follow-up questions. This book answers all of those and more so I highly recommend to anyone who wants to get an overview of how cool bees are and why we need them.

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